While major Big Box retailers have struggled to keep pace with consumer-driven demands for instant gratification, Sears Holdings has come up with new innovations to anticipate and serve shoppers with a new one-day ground delivery service supported by a dynamic DC network.

When an industry is changing rapidly, companies must adapt in order to survive. In this whitepaper, a global publisher was seeking a partner that could mitigate risk and build a platform flexible enough for their shifting customer expectations. The solution enabled the company to rewrite their operations game plan and transform their supply chain.

Join our panel of leading economic and transportation analysts as they share their exclusive insight on where rates are headed and the issues that will be driving those rate increases over the next 12 months.

In its latest monthly report released this week, the Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reported that its July 2010 Booked Orders Index was 131.

The index in July is down 36 points or 22% from June 2010’s index of 167. While down from June, the July 2010 index represents an increase of 49% from the July 2009 Index of 88.

CEMA’s baseline calculation uses the year 1990 as a comparison. Numbers to the right of the equation show the current state of the conveyor industry as compared to 1990. Therefore, anything above 100 indicates growth; while anything less indicates a contraction in the industry.

The Twelve-Month Index for Booked Orders was 120 in July. Index in July represents an increase of 3% from June 2010’s Twelve-Month Index of 117.

The CEMA Billed Sales (shipments) Index was 142 in July. Index in July represents an increase of 6% from June 2010’s Index of 134. The July 2010 Index represents an increase of 22% from the July 2009 Index of 116.

The Twelve-Month Index for Billed Sales was 113 in July. Index in July represents an increase of 2% from June 2010’s Twelve-Month Index of 111.

So what does the July report say about the current state of the conveyor industry? In an interview with Modern, Bob Reinfried, CEMA’s executive vice president, said, “The conveyor industry had a very, very good month in June. It’s not that July was a disappointment, it was just the norm. And it’s still better from where we were in July in 2009.”

Last month, Reinfried admitted that CEMA saw good numbers in June, but he also explained that it was too early to tell if we should expect the numbers to continue to climb. It’s still too early, he said.

CEMA will be holding its Fall meeting in Chicago on September 21 and 22, at which time Reinfried said he hopes to gather more information from member companies and wrap some context around the numbers.

Reinfried told Modern that CEMA is forecasting an increase of 2% to 3% for the overall North American conveyor market in 2010, and this month’s report coupled with next week’s meeting will help determine if that expectation is still on target.

Subscribe to Logistics Management magazine

Subscribe today. It's FREE!

Get timely insider information that you can use to better manage yourentire logistics operation.

Recent Entries

When an industry is changing rapidly, companies must adapt in order to survive. In this whitepaper, a global publisher was seeking a partner that could mitigate risk and build a platform flexible enough for their shifting customer expectations. The solution enabled the company to rewrite their operations game plan and transform their supply chain.

While it is already reaping myriad benefits from ORION (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation), a proprietary routing platform for its drivers rolled out in late 2013, transportation and logistics bellwether UPS announced big plans for the technology this week.